Satish Lele satish.lele@gmail.com

Mangroves: Mangroves is the first line of defence for rising sea level. These plants can grow very well and very fast in sea water. These are pneumatophores. The roots of these rise above high tide sea level and breath normally. These plants are hardy and can grow upto 10 meters (40 feet) tall and have up to 125 mm (5 inches) stem at the root. Plant roots penetrate deep and can hold fast. As these grow, the size of root increases and the roots push other trees into sea. These can planted by planting stems or branches of older trees into marshy land. In this manner, the land sinking into sea can be gainfully utilized. The image below shows arial view of mangroves in 10 hectares of marshy land on coast line of our area, and top image shows the trees of the same area, as seen from ground level.

The branches of these trees can provide fire wood to local population as cooking fuel. Mangroves generate between US$ 2000 to US$ 9000 per hectare annually from fishing.
Globally mangroves cover around 150,000 square kilometers and are found in 123 countries worldwide. The biggest concentration (21 percent) of the world's mangroves is in Indonesia, with Brazil home to around nine percent and Australia, seven percent. The destruction of the world's mangrove forests is happening up to four times faster than the world's land-based forests, according to a new United Nations report. A study commissioned by the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP) reports that one fifth (around 35,500 square kilometers) of the world's mangroves, forests straddling both land and sea, have been lost since 1980. They are incredibly resilient ecosystems, which aren't bothered by increasing temperatures.